Twilight Regent
by Seldavia
Summary: A series of strange visions and nightmares lead Link into a journey through space and time to discover the truth behind the Triforce, its creators, and their puppets...Written parallel to Twilight Princess. Prequel to The Door to Yomi.
1. Mysterious Nightmares

An endless expanse of shifting water, spreading as far as the eye could see. Desolate, lifeless, whipped into a fury by a pitiless wind. Everything, everyone, living and dead, buried beneath the suffocating cold of that blue-black ocean. Even the flowing, fierce energy of a storm would have been welcome, rather than the infinite nothing.

He was stranded on a small raft, of the crudest design with a tiny sail, which rose and fell with the swells in a nauseating pitch and yaw. The tiny craft rose up and he was thrust toward the immeasurable sea of stars, tiny pits of light in the blackness even more forbidding than the ocean. He clung to the mast, fearful of being thrown into either great beyond.

The raft spun and shuddered like a leaf in a roiling river, and sky and sea began to mix together. He fixed his gaze on the moon, the one solid thing in his liquefied reality. As he was knocked about it became harder to focus, and the moon also began to shift and tremble slightly, as if it was its reflection in water and not the real moon at all. It seemed to grow bigger and bigger in his shattered frame of vision, darker and darker.

Suddenly he could feel a great pressure, of some colossal object shoving the air before it as it hurtled along at a terrific speed. He jerked his head up and with an all-encompassing horror he watched as the moon itself expanded like a balloon, inevitably stamping out his existence, and the sea swallowed up his terrified scream.

He sat up with a jolt, and the first sense that reached him was the feeling of solidity and stillness. Pitch black, he groped around in the dark searching for something to hold onto.

A pinpoint of light appeared to his left, and he jerked his head toward it. At first he did not recognize the person standing there, and a strange flash of faces passed before his eyes before he matched the right one.

"Ilia?" He suddenly realized he was gasping for breath, and could feel a trickle of cold sweat down his back.

"Are you all right?" she asked, her anxious face traced with strange shadows in the guttering candlelight. "I heard you shouting in your sleep."

Link wiped the sweat from his forehead. "Just another nightmare. Two mixed together, this time. The ocean one and the moon one."

Ilia sat on the bedside. "It must be all the strange things that have happened to us in the past few weeks."

He looked around the tatty Kakahiro Village inn, and shook his head. "I've had them since I was a little kid. They've become more vivid, now, though."

"You should try to get back to sleep. I'll get you something to drink…" She got up and turned to walk to the kitchen, but turned back around when she saw him get out of the bed. "What are you doing?"

He pulled his jerkin over his head. "Going out. Can't sleep."

"If you don't get enough sleep, you'll just keep having strange dreams."

"I can't breathe in here. I need some fresh air. Don't worry about me, I'll be back for breakfast."

Link ignored Ilia's protests, and once fully dressed, walked out the front door. In the predawn hours the air was cool and clear, with a light breeze. He breathed in deeply, as if quenching a fiery thirst, and untied Epona from the post.

He rode in the nearby fields for four hours, past the sunrise, not really looking for anything in particular, just focusing on the hard jolts in the saddle and the wind in his face. He climbed a few trees, swung his sword in the rushes. Once, he let a goblin's arrow strike his right arm, just to make sure he could feel it there.

As the sun began to rise in the sky, he felt he'd better turn back. Sheathing his sword, he spurred Epona back toward the village, wondering why he still felt like he was sleepwalking.

-&-

"Hey, I'm talking to you." Link's head jerked up from his porridge to see Malo scowling at him across the table. "Are you gonna stop by the shop or what?"

Link frowned and turned back to his breakfast. "I'm not going to waste arrows just so I can keep buying them from you."

"It's not just a moneymaking venture," Malo told him enthusiastically. "I'm gonna buy out that shop in the castle town. They're a bunch of snooty snobs. I'm going to put in a shop that people can actually use without going broke. If you have any spare change, give it to the old Goron at the front of the shop. He's collecting for me."

"Okay."

Ilia, who hadn't spoken during this entire time, decided to make a suggestion. "You should see the fortune-teller in the castle town. I bet she could interpret your dreams, tell you what they mean."

Link frowned. "They're just dreams. They don't mean anything."

"What have you got to lose, besides more sleep?" Malo threw in.

Sighing, Link said, "Fine. I have to go out there today anyway. But nothing's going to come of it."

"Why are you so grumpy?" Ilia demanded. "We're just trying to help you."

Feeling guilty, Link swallowed his irritation. "I'm not sure. I don't want to feel this way. I'm sorry if I'm upsetting you, but…something doesn't feel right."

"You mean like monsters taking over the world? Yeah, that doesn't feel right to me either," Malo quipped.

"No…I mean me personally."

"You've changed a lot in a short period of time," Ilia said wistfully. "But not in a bad way!" she added hastily when he turned toward her.

He shrugged. "Well, I'll see the fortune-teller, if it makes you feel better."

-&-

Link could not remember seeing more beads and shawls on a single person. He wondered if the old fortune-teller was a quarter of the size she looked to be, wrapped in innumerable layers.

"What can I do for you today, my dear?" She asked kindly but eagerly. "Curious about your luck in love? What the stars hold in your future?"

Feeling stupid, Link told her, "A friend of mine told me you can interpret dreams."

She smiled broadly. "Indeed I can, my dear, for dreams are like a window into the deepest reaches of the unconscious. Please, have a seat. Er, do you have 20 rupees?"

He sat down on a soft embroidered chair – its stuffing peeking out in places – and handed her the money. "Now," she said as she settled into her own great armchair, "What messages from the darkness have been troubling you?"

"I've had a number of dreams that make no sense, ever since I was very young," he told her, not sure where he should begin. "In one of my dreams, all of Hyrule has sunk to the bottom of the ocean. In another, the moon itself crashes into the earth. Most of them involve looking for someone, or fighting someone." He didn't mention that the person he was looking for was usually Princess Zelda. She would surely laugh and say that it was a young man's heroic fantasy. He also didn't mention that the person he was fighting often looked like a pig. He was sure even the fortune-teller wouldn't be able to interpret being defeated by bacon.

She stroked her chin, thinking it over. "Searching, fighting, that doesn't sound out of place for a young adventurer like yourself. The ocean and moon…once again, you likely feel it is your duty to protect this country from ill fortune, yes? But why those _particular_ perils…?"

Link nodded eagerly, somewhat more hopeful upon seeing she'd noticed what he'd been pondering over for the past several weeks.

She fumbled through a pile of books to her right, and pulled out a thin battered leather volume adorned with stars and half-moons. "What is the date and time of your birth?"

He told her, and she spent several minutes flipping back and forth through the pages. "Hmmm…hmm…no eclipses, solar or lunar, on that date or in the near future…nothing to indicate any unusual movement of the tides…" She shut the book and looked up at him. "My dear boy, I believe you've stumped me. But don't worry, I love a challenge…" She took out parchment and quill, and sat like a doctor questioning symptoms of some exotic illness. "Now, can you tell me if you can remember any triggers of these dreams, anything that happened before they became more frequent?"

He thought for several minutes, then shook his head. "It's been more of a slow increase…there's no one trigger."

"Hmmm…it may be very subtle…do you remember seeing anything out of place? Anything that seems familiar, but shouldn't?"

_The princess herself_, Link thought, remembering how strange it was that her face had seemed familiar even though he'd never seen it before. He'd chalked it up to the descriptions he got from people back home. But there was something else, which sounded less silly.

"The royal crest."

She looked skeptical. "The royal crest is everywhere, dear, even in old ruins in the far reaches in the country, and on summonses that are sent to the village leaders."

"I never paid attention to summonses when I lived in my home village," he protested. "That didn't interest me. I was just a ranch-hand, I never left the village, never wanted to…" his voice trailed off as he realized how long ago that seemed, how the world had opened wide to him in such a short period of time.

"Hmmmmm…" her voice became deeper and more contemplative. "And here I'd assumed that you'd been an explorer from a young age, toddling out to the woods. Do you have a genealogy?" He shook his head. "Ah well…I'd thought you might have some relation to the royal family, but even the lesser nobility keep records…and even if you were related, that wouldn't explain the strange dreams…"

She looked him in the eyes. "I'm sorry, my dear, but I don't think there's anything I can do for you…for now. However…from now on I want you to take note of anything that seems to tickle your memory, spark your senses, let me know."

-&-

"Did that old bag really upset you that much?" Midna demanded. "You've been digging in the fields and chewing on demon-bats for three hours now."

Link scowled at her through his wolf's eyes. The fortune-teller had left him with a bubbling frustration and a need to shred things, and he figured this was the best way to vent it.

Midna stretched out on his back and gave a moan of impatience. "You know, we have things we need to do. Are we going to warp to the Sacred Grove or not?"

Link indicated that he wanted to speak. Once back in human form, he said, "I don't see the point. We were just there, weren't we?" He tapped the sword he had acquired on his back for emphasis.

Shrugging, Midna said, "It's the only lead we have…we might as well see if there's anything we missed."


	2. Hunting for Clues

The ruins of the Sacred Grove breathed antiquity, an air of forgotten secrets and complex history wrapped serenely around them, mixed with the smell of moss and old stone. This just irritated Link further, reminding him of his own mystery that continued to sleep, dormant, in the back of his mind. The royal crest was everywhere. He turned his head away from the huge three-triangle seal on the floor of the ruins as if it pained him.

"Like I said," he muttered, swatting at ivy strands with his sword, "we've been here before. There's nothing here that stopped being important a hundred years ago."

He stomped up the cracked stairs to the pedestal where he had pulled out his sword. In anger and frustration he thrust the sword back into the plinth, as if in rejection of the ruin and all the secrets it held.

To his surprise, he heard a strange, low grinding noise coming from behind him. He pulled his sword back out and ran back on guard, wondering if some new foe would show its face.

It took a few moments for him to see what had changed. A statue at the top of the ruined grand stairway had moved. Hoping that it had a key or charm or some kind behind it, he scrambled up the fallen stones and looked behind it.

Snarling, he kicked it in frustration. "There's nothing here!"

"There's a door there," Midna spoke from his shadow. "See the doorknob?"

"Oh, what, you want me to open the door to nowhere? Maybe we can just pretend it leads somewhere!" He grabbed the knob and jerked it open.

A dazzling light, too bright to be coming from the sun in the grove, blinded him. He groped forward with both his hands and feet, hoping he could grab whatever it was that was giving off the light without falling through the door to the ground below.

Suddenly the light shifted, and he found he was standing on solid ground. He glanced around him and his jaw fell open in shock.

He was standing in the entryway of a magnificent temple, with elegantly carved marble pillars and stained-glass windows glittering multiple colors in the light.

"Where are we?" he asked no one in particular. Stunned, he realized that the temple's structure exactly matched that of the Sacred Grove ruins, right down to the three-triangle seal and the guardian statues. "This is…"

Suddenly he ran down the stairs, not shattered but brand-new, and turned around. There was a small alcove behind the stairs. He ran in and saw there a new chest…right where an old broken one had sat in the Sacred Grove.

He turned slowly and looked up around him in confusion and awe. "How…how can this be…?"

He walked around the huge entryway slowly, dazed, wondering if he was dreaming again. Had he visited this place in his dreams? No…but yet…there was something eerily familiar about it…

He stood, dumb-struck, on the seal in the middle of the room, trying to wrap his mind around this strange impossibility; his senses suddenly magnified, taking in the jeweled rays of light that drifted into the chamber with holy splendor.

After some passage of time he could not measure, his mind slowly began to function again and he walked up the small stairs to the plinth where he had found his sword. The hairs on the back of his neck began to prickle, and he felt himself being drawn toward the plinth. He watched, with detached interest, as his legs carried him forward and his arms raised and thrust the sword back into it.

A stairway appeared out of nowhere, right in front of him, leading to a hallway that had not been there before.

"That wasn't supposed to happen." The sound of his own voice in that serene stillness startled him. He blinked, wondering just what it was that was supposed to happen.

His mind tapped within his skull, trying to draw his attention to something. Go up to the plinth, place the sword…what, _what_ was supposed to happen?

"I…" He stood rooted firmly to the ground. "I've been here before."

"Of course you've been here before," Midna spoke from his shadow. "This is where you got the sword in the first place."

"No…I've been inside this place before…"

"Impossible," Midna snapped. "It started crumbling a hundred years before you were born."

He ignored her, frantically scrabbling inside his own mind for the memory, the answer.

_I was here. Several times. I put that sword there. As a boy? As a man? But_ _how_….?

He stared as if blind at the open stairway, waiting with both anticipation and dread as the memories struggled to break free of the chains in the back of his mind.

Suddenly a thousand flying images assaulted him, more real than any dream and overflowing from the dark places in his mind, rushing, laughing, reveling in madness.

Struggling on the storm-tossed seas, salt water choking him.

Faces of people who begged him to recognize them, but whose names he could not remember.

The nodding evil face of the moon, seconds from disaster.

The inside of a palace long reduced to dust.

Princess Zelda's face before him, explaining something he knew he should know, but didn't.

A man, grotesquely disfigured by his own demons, stood over him as he lay on the ground, bringing his sword down with a final stroke.

"What is it?" Midna demanded as Link fell to his knees, tears streaming from his blank eyes. She reached out and zapped him.

He snapped back to reality, though still partly wrapped in fog. "What…did…did I die?"

"No, you just had an episode, is all," Midna said acidly. "Pull yourself together!"

"No, I mean…before…" Slowly the mist left his eyes, and he looked down to see his hands shaking. He pulled them into fists. "I'm close…so close…"

Midna just stared at him in exasperation.

Suddenly he stood, and unsheathed his sword. "This is where we have to go in order to get the next part of the mirror, right?"

She nodded. "Yes…let's get on with it, shall we?"

He gripped his sword hard and ran up the stairs. _The old woman was right, in her own way…it just needed a trigger. I'm finally at the edge of understanding, and the further I go, the more I'll find…_

_-&-_

The next time he needed to pick up supplies in Kakahiro Village, he stopped to speak with Ilia.

"Was the fortune-teller any help?" she asked.

"No." Link rifled through his knapsack, double-checking all his supplies. "She seemed to think that the moon dream might have something to do with an eclipse, but the little book she checked didn't mention anything like that."

"Well, I guess that makes some sense." She sat down on one of the few chairs at the inn that didn't have a missing leg. "People used to think that eclipses were harbringers of doom, until they began realizing that the sun and moon moved in cycles, and their movements could be predicted. The shaman told me that," she announced proudly. "He told me an old story about the sun and moon, too. Want to hear it?"

Link glanced up at the door, then thought better of it and sat down next to her. "Sure."

"Okay." Ilia settled in her chair and began, "Long ago, before even the time of the goddesses, a prince and princess lived in separate kingdoms, but had known each other since childhood and wished to be together when they grew up.

"But the Night Kingdom and the Day Dynasty were at war, and both monarchs forbade their children to see each other. They pleaded with their parents, presenting the argument that they two could bring peace between the warring states, but their parents held each other in such contempt they would not even speak to each other."

Link fought the urge to yawn. Most old stories, it seemed, sounded like this.

"So the Moon Princess and Sun Prince made a promise to each other. They would sneak out at a preappointed time, meet, and run away together.

"But when they did, they were together only a few minutes before spies from both kingdoms found them out. So they were forced to part, and return to their separate homes.

"Every few decades, the story goes, the Moon Princess and Sun Prince try again to meet, but when they do, even mortal eyes can see, because it disrupts the natural workings of the earth. So they try again and again, hoping someday they can stay together." She beamed at him, but her mouth collapsed into a frown upon seeing the look on his face. "Didn't you like my story?"

"It's a very sad story," he said, though he looked more grouchy than sad.

"Well, most love stories are, unfortunately."

"It's kind of ridiculous. I mean, why keep doing the same thing over and over again if it doesn't work? They should try something else, instead of leaving everything to chance, hoping one day it'll change."

"It's just a story." Her expression turned sour. "Some of us don't have the power over our destiny that you have, Mr. Grand Adventurer. Some of us have to take whatever fortune passes our way."

Link grinned sheepishly. "Sorry."

"Well, it doesn't matter." They sat silently for a minute, then Ilia jumped to her feet, hearing the teakettle whistling in the next room. She came back with a teapot and two cups. "I know you came here to talk to me about something besides the moon. What was it?"

"Oh, right. Did you remember," he asked as they sat together over tea, "anything at all when you lost your memory? Did you have any flashbacks, did anything even seem the slightest bit familiar?"

She shook her head. "It was like my mind was completely blank. Oh, not so much as if I'd forgotten how to eat or something, but I had no idea at all who I was, or who you were."

Link sipped his tea in silent contemplation.

"Why do you ask?" Ilia said.

"These dreams…it's like I remember something that happened to me, but they're so strange…so alien…and yet so familiar."

She rested her elbows on the table. "If you've been dreaming the same thing since childhood, it's going to seem familiar."

"Yes, but how would my mind even come up with these things? They must have come from somewhere." He sighed. "I do have a few leads, though. I'm going to speak to a few of the Gorons."

"Are you having dreams about them, now?"

"Not exactly…"

-&-

"Well, Death Mountain is _your_ peoples' name for it, Brother," the elderly Goron explained as he sat comfortably in the hot spring. "We call it 'Fire Mountain'. Though I suppose if you're not careful, it can amount to the same thing."

"Where did the name come from?" Link asked.

"Well…you don't know this yourself? The Hylians believed that some evil force had made its home in the mountains, eons before our ancestors moved to this area. But if there was any trace of it, we never found it. We always figured that you called it that because of the dangers that go with mining…cave-ins, bad air, that sort of thing."

"So there's no truth to the story of an evil force."

"Well, something had been living here before us. The tunnels were too regular to have been created naturally. So there may have been someone here eons ago, but what type of person or people they were, I have no idea."

"What are you doing?" Midna demanded, leaving the sanctuary of the shadows to look over Link's shoulder as he scratched with quill on parchment, in the candlelight of the Kakahiro Village inn.

"Writing down a list of familiar things," he answered shortly, not bothering to explain further.

Midna examined his handwritten scrawls. They read:

_Temple of Time_

_Death Mountain_

_Master Sword_

_Royal Seal & Three-Triangle Seal (Triforce)_

_Princess Zelda_

Midna looked skeptical. "Those are all famous things in your world. You wouldn't need to explore much to be exposed to them."

Link glared at her. "How can I remember the inside of a temple that crumbled a hundred years before I was born? Or the way a sword in a hidden grove feels? Every sword is different. It felt like it was made for my hand."

He scraped the dry quill over a corner of the parchment, eyes half-closed in thought. "What's the evil pig supposed to mean?"

"I'd roll my eyes, but those muscles are tired," Midna grumbled. "Let's face it, sometimes a pig is just a pig. Maybe your parents chucked you in a hog wallow when you were a baby. It would explain a few things…"

Link swatted at her but she ducked out of his way. Turning back to his parchment, he dipped the quill in ink and started sketching toward the bottom. Midna peeked over his shoulder to see him drawing three triangles.

"Power, Wisdom, and Courage," he muttered to himself. "None is much good on its own. Unbridled power only causes destruction. Courage without knowledge or focus is useless. Wisdom cannot be put to use without the other two."

"Yes, well, that's why the Triforce only works properly when it's united," Midna said. "But it's been split for hundreds of years."

"The Twili were imprisoned in the Twilight World when they tried to use it…"

"Don't remind me," Midna grumbled. "And by the way, just because my ancestors did something wrong centuries ago doesn't mean we're evil."

"I never said you were."

Link rested his head on his hand and stood still for so long that Midna thought he had fallen asleep. She was just about to suggest he go to bed when he spoke.

"Midna," he said in a quiet, contemplative voice. "Your world is connected to mine by that mirror. Do you think…there could be other worlds out there, with doors that have yet to be opened? Or have since been sealed shut?"

Taken aback by the depth of the question, Midna replied, "Well…I suppose so…but I've never heard of any others, and I've been around a long time."

Link put down his quill, sighed and rubbed his eyes. "I can't do this anymore tonight. I wish I could ask someone, but there's no way I can contact anyone who would know anything useful…"

-&-

Link exited Malo's Castle Town store weighted down with several bottles of healing potion. "I swear, whoever makes this stuff must have made a mint since I started this whole adventure…"

His musings were interrupted when a pack of small children ran helter-skelter in front of and behind him, nearly knocking him over. Screeching and flocking like sparrows, they descended upon a small makeshift puppet theater close to the four minstrels. A horde of children was already sitting there, shrieking in delight at the drama unfolding before them.

As Link walked closer, he could see that the drawbacks of the tacked-together theater and moldy puppets were offset by the puppeteer's voice acting and enthusiasm.

"I am the great dragon Brimstone, from the flinty mountains to the north!" a gravelly voice roared as a green lizard bounced up and down on his strings. "Fear me, for I will turn your crops to dust and your homes to tinder!" With a chorus of boos, the children added to the drama.

"Oh, dear, whatever shall we do?" a paunchy doll with all its hair pulled out lamented in a creaky old man's voice.

"Dear Uncle, as priestess of this village, I can banish the dragon!" a stick figure in a dress announced, in such a convincing female voice that Link had to look twice at the puppeteer to insure it was a middle-aged man. "But then I, too, must leave this place!"

The old man cried and argued, amid threats from the dragon and pleading from the priestess. Then another puppet dropped down into the theater, wearing a green tunic and carrying a crude wooden sword. "Fear not, fair lady, for I will slay the dragon!" came the gallant voice.

From there the play devolved into slapstick, much to the delight of the children, who cheered when the hero smacked the dragon across the face and booed when the dragon sat on their hero. It ended, predictably, with the hero slaying the dragon and marrying the priestess.

The puppeteer, a balding skinny man wearing once-bright tunic, came from behind and bowed, then produced a begging bowl. "If you liked what you saw, then please, a small contribution will bring you more!"

The children, either not having any money or etiquette, scattered. The minstrels offered a few rupees, which the puppeteer took gratefully.

Link strode up and gave him what was left in his purse. The puppeteer looked up at him, eyes, twinkling. "I didn't know that knowledge of my work had spread to the warrior class." He grinned and thanked Link. "I love performing for children, bless their hearts, but they don't realize that it's an expensive hobby I have."

"You only do puppet shows for children?" Link was impressed with the man in spite of himself.

"Well, adults tend to be a little more discerning in the material I present." He began packing up his little theater. "Oh, and just for the sake of clarity, these are marionettes, not puppets."

"I didn't mean to…"

"It's all right! It's just…well, I choose marionettes because, if you're very skilled, it will seem to the audience's eyes that there aren't any strings at all, that they're living things. It's been a few years since I was able to accomplish that, especially since I haven't been able to afford new materials." He poked some of the "dragon's" stuffing back in. "I had children picking them up and waiting for them to move, they couldn't believe I was pulling their strings! Ah, well, to be young again." He finished packing and thrust the whole box over his shoulders. "Of course, it seemed to me kind of sad…to be a creature that could only move when someone made you. But I guess that's why I decided to live a carefree, if poor, life." He gave Link a little salute with his free hand. "Best of luck to you, young adventurer!"


	3. The Shaman's Vision

"Ilia tells me your dreams have been troubling you."

Link stared at the shaman in disbelief. "Does the whole village know?"

He laughed. "Well, considering the entire village consists of about ten people, counting the Gorons who come to the hot spring…probably." He ignored the sour look on Link's face and asked, "Well, would you want a bit of help? I can't tell you what your dreams mean…only you can do that, regardless of what a fortune-teller might say. But I know a way to examine them while awake, so you have more control over what you're seeing."

Skeptical, Link scuffed his boot toe into the dirt. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt…they're becoming even more frequent, not to mention vivid. Sometimes I feel I can't tell if I'm asleep or awake."

The shaman nodded with deep seriousness. "Come inside, and I'll see what I can do."

He bid Link sit on the floor of his house, close to the fire. After rummaging around in an ornate chest in the corner, he brought forth some herbs Link had never seen before. One he set aside while the other he began brewing in a teapot.

"I want you to try to relax as much as you can," he instructed. "Don't fall asleep, but try to clear your mind of everything, as much as possible."

"I thought we were going to examine all the stuff that's going on in my head," Link countered. "Why do you want me to clear it out?"

Pouring the steeped herbs into a small cup, the shaman explained, "When you are asleep, your mind is most vulnerable. I want to replicate that, with a few aids here that will help you focus."

He handed Link the cup, instructing him to drink slowly, and then seared a bit of the other herb and placed it, still smoking, into a small bowl. It gave off a sharp, pleasant scent, and Link felt his muscles relax.

"Now," the shaman began, once Link had finished the herbal tea, "I want you to relax completely, clear your mind completely. Don't fight the medicine. The more open you are, the more you will be able to control what you see…"

Still skeptical, but glad of a break from the chaos that had now become commonplace, Link did as he was told. The shaman continued to speak to him, conversationally, of nothing in particular, and soon his voice began fading away.

For a long time, there was only blackness. He gradually realized that he was standing up, and no longer in the shaman's home. Slowly, he opened his eyes, and as they began to focus a large room came into view.

It was a magnificent anteroom, like the foyer of a castle, with marble pillars, chandeliers made of wrought gold and crystal, and polished floors of granite. It seemed strangely familiar, but he could not place it; he did notice that the royal seal had been placed repeatedly in the walls.

But more magnificent than the walls or the chandeliers were the mammoth, intricate tapestries hung all about the octagonal anteroom, each one as detailed as if a thousand weavers had taken a thousand years to complete just one. They all depicted breathtaking landscapes and elaborate battle scenes. Some featured places Link had been in Hyrule; others looked alien, but were strangely tinted with the familiarity that had pervaded throughout his nightmares.

As he stepped up to one in order to examine it closer, he noticed there was a young man dressed like himself that showed up repeatedly in not just that one, but all of them. Or at least it seemed like the same person. Sometimes he was older, sometimes younger. In one he was playing a funny-looking round instrument Link had never seen before.

There was a young woman in every tapestry too, though she didn't appear as frequently. In one she could only be seen small in a corner; in another she was always beside the young man and even appeared to be related in some way, perhaps his sister. She bore a striking resemblance to Princess Zelda in most of them, and the royal seal usually accompanied her.

Link began to examine them from beginning to end, piecing together the stories that they told. They were only pictures, so it was hard to put together any details. At the end of each tapestry was a battle scene, after which was usually a castle or landscape in brilliant sunlight, and the ubiquitous royal seal.

But a few of them, apparently, didn't end well, and their ends were shrouded in darkness, its hero slain. Link stepped up to one to examine it further, and caught his breath. The hero's bane had a grotesque face, like a pig.

Link backed up and turned his face away. His gaze came to rest upon another dark tapestry, with the enemy this time more human, but still monstrously disfigured. He had thrust his sword deep into the fallen hero's chest.

The room seemed to flash before him and suddenly he felt himself down on his knees, staring up at the all too real hideous face above him, which smiled in evil glee, the sword in his hand stained crimson. Excruciating pain lanced through Link's chest and he doubled up in agony.

As he gasped for breath, the pain slowly ebbed away and he looked, with some surprise, to find that the hand clutching his chest was not covered in blood. He looked up and realized he was in the anteroom again.

Rising unsteadily to his feet, he began wondering how to get out of this place – he didn't remember coming in a door – when he saw in the corner, a large loom. Irresistibly drawn, the walked slowly toward it, dreading what he might see.

His eyes widened in amazement as he saw the beginning of the tapestry, displaying a young man – now he knew it must be himself – herding goats in Ordon Village. As he followed the tapestry, he saw intricate pictures of all the things he had experienced in the past few months; the kidnapping of his friends by monsters, his own curse, meeting Midna, meeting Princess Zelda, his travels to the four corners of Hyrule and every single person he had met in between. At the very far end, in the part still stuck in the loom, he could see an image of himself sitting before the shaman's fire.

He sank to his knees as a myriad of images overcame him, a thousand times more powerful than the ones in the temple, accompanied by fear, ecstasy, hatred, love, and mourning. Battles, funerals, images of loved ones as well as enemies from a thousand lifetimes flashed before his eyes. He clutched his hands to his head and screamed with madness as his head pounded until he felt it would burst.

He was knocked to the floor and his eyes flew open. The shaman was standing above him, one hand open, looking both concerned and apologetic. "I'm sorry…but you were screaming, and I couldn't rouse you…"

Link shook his head and struggled to his feet. The shaman tried to help him but was waved off. "What did you see?" he demanded.

Silent, Link stared into the fire, trying to piece together what it all meant. "Do you know," he asked, his voice low and gasping, "the story of the ancient hero?"

Blinking, the shaman replied, "Just bits and pieces…it happened so long ago, it's devolved into myth. Just the simple fact that a hero chosen by the gods erased a great darkness from Hyrule…Wait, where are you going?"

"I'm tired of myths and stories," Link stopped at the door, his voice hard and flinty. "I want some real answers to what's going on."

-&-

"Hello, dear," Telma greeted Link as he walked in the door. Her smile fell as he walked past without even looking at her, heading straight for Shad.

Shad looked up genially. "Hello, old boy, how have you…"

"Do you have any books on the ancient hero?" Link demanded.

Startled, Shad replied, "No…I don't believe so…even my father wouldn't have had something that old."

Link slammed his fist down at the table, ignoring the others' angry shouts. "Did this hero even really _exist?_"

Shad clutched his book to his chest and his words tumbled over themselves as they came out. "I….of course he did, I mean how else would the story….I don't know who else…maybe the royal family…"

"The _royal family?_" Link's frustration reached its boiling point. "A pox on the royal family, and its symbols and its members, most of all Zelda!"

Everyone in the room was staring at him now, slack-jawed, so quiet they heard the sneeze of a mouse in the corner. It was Telma that found her voice first. "Do….do you know what you just _said_?"

Link stood, silent, fists clenched. Then he ran out of the bar and slammed the door behind him.

-&-

"You didn't really mean that," Midna said.

"Of course not." It was pouring rain in the southern town courtyard and Link was soaked to the bone, but he continued to let the rivulets of water run down his back and shoulders. He was calm as stone now, watching the rain over the fields with half-closed but watchful eyes.

"You can't blame Zelda for the trouble she's in. We're supposed to help her, remember?"

Link nodded. "I just wish I could talk to her…she _must_ know what's going on…"

"Now that we have all the mirror pieces, let's go back to the desert temple. We can straighten things out there, and once we're rid of Zant, I can help you find her and fix things here. Agreed?"

He stood. "We'll go…but I've got to know what's happening, what all of this means. Something tells me that if I don't figure it out in time…" his voice trailed off.

Midna put her hand on his shoulder. "I'll give you whatever help I can, all right?"

"All right." He steeled himself for the next leg of his journey. "Let's go."


	4. The Vessels of the Triforce

As they stepped into the Twilight Kingdom, Midna cast a quick look around the home she had been absent from for so long. "We're not too late," she announced excitedly. "Not all of my people are completely under Zant's spell…"

She turned around to see Link with an expression of ultimate rapture on his face, gazing at the castle with unblinking eyes. Pleased and surprised by his reaction, she said, "Yes…is it not beautiful?"

"Huh?" Link shook himself out of his trance. "Oh…I suppose it is…"

As she stared at him, puzzled, he marveled at how clear his mind was, so free of demons, how strangely agile and able he felt. _I know for a fact…that I have never been here before…and I can see it through eyes that I know are my own…_

Emboldened by this new feeling, he said to Midna, "Well, shall we?"

-&-

As he stepped into the anteroom of Hyrule Castle, Link stopped short and checked an exclamation.

"What is it now?" Midna demanded from his shadow.

"I've been in here before," he said, gazing around the marble room, taking in the intimate details of the golden chandeliers.

"Here we go with this again. How could you have possibly been in here?"

He looked up at the bare walls. "The tapestries aren't here."

"What tapestries?"

"The ones…in that vision…"

He stood silent for a few moments more, then shook slightly as if waking from a dream. "You're right, Midna. The only way to figure out what's going on is to find Zelda."

-&-

"Welcome to my castle."

From the moment Ganondorf began to speak, Link stared openly at the manifestation of his nightmares standing before him. In the middle of the speech Link realized that Ganondorf was talking more to Midna than to him.

_I recognize him…doesn't he recognize me? Is he ignoring me on purpose?_

Quickly Link notched an arrow to his bow and released it. It nicked Ganondorf's right cheek and buried itself in the throne behind him. Ganondorf turned to stare at him with scarcely concealed irritation.

"Oops, sorry…" Link grinned maliciously. "I know you were in the middle of a pompous boast, but your guard was down, and I couldn't resist."

"Foolish boy," Ganondorf snorted. "I don't know what your connection is to Midna, but what makes you think you can take on one blessed with the power of the gods?" He showed the back of his hand, where the three-triangle seal glowed.

"'Boy'?" In disbelief, Link ripped off his wrist guard and displayed his own mark. "You're telling me you don't know who I am?"

"I fought someone wearing that silly outfit, once," Ganondorf's words had a detached mockery that angered Link even more. "He was the one that turned me over to the sages, who thrust me into the twilight world. But just because you dress like that person doesn't mean you can fight like him." He stepped forward. "Well, whether you are the same person or not is irrelevant. Watch as I show you my true power."

-&-

"Link…chosen hero…please lend us the last of your power!"

Link snapped out of automatic combat mode. "'Chosen hero'? Don't tell me you don't recognize me either!"

Zelda stared at him. "I…"

"No time!" Link mounted his horse and held out his hand to Zelda. "He's coming!"

He spurred Epona toward his adversary and heard Zelda speak behind him. "I'll slow him down with my light arrows. Then you must try to hit him yourself."

Link did as he was asked, but found it difficult to concentrate. The pounding of Epona's hooves echoed in his own head. Suddenly he had a revelation. "I can't kill him."

Startled, Zelda said, "You have to defeat him…if you don't, all of Hyrule…"

Link cut her off. "I _know_ you know what's going on here. You can pretend you don't, but I know better. We've met before. We've fought him before. Tell me you don't remember!"

"But…"

"If I kill him, or he kills me, then the cycle will begin again! What's the point? There has to be another way!"

He could feel her trembling behind him. "I'm on the right track, aren't I? Every time, he tries to get the whole Triforce, but he can't because he doesn't have whatever it is it takes to keep the thing together. So _you_ got one piece, and for whatever reason, _I_ got the other."

"How…how did you figure it out?"

"How!?" He saw Ganondorf come into his field of vision and slashed at him, then nudged Epona in the opposite direction. "A thousand years of memories, that's how! How in the name of Hyrule do we make this cursed cycle end?!"

"We can't!" Zelda cried. "It is the natural cycle…" Still trembling, she said softly, "As Summer always follows Winter, so must Good cleanse Evil from the land."

"What!" Link turned to her, livid, completely unprepared as Ganondorf rode down on them. At the last moment he dropped his sword and seized the giant man's face, and the two of them both fell from their horses.

"What kind of fool are you?" Link shouted as he wiped blood from his eyes, the top of his head cut from a rock. "Are you just going to hope things suddenly change?"

Ganondorf, thinking the words were intended for him, shouted back, his own sword drawn. "I intend to rule over both light and darkness, once I've taken the pieces of the Triforce out of your hide and hers!"

Link found his sword and stood to face his enemy. "You idiot," he snapped. "You're just a puppet yourself! Can't you see the goddesses control you and Zelda? The Triforce is a living entity! It continually seeks to become whole again! What makes you think you can have it after it split apart the last ten thousand times?"

To his surprise, Ganondorf laughed. "What, may I ask, is wrong with being immortal? Even if I never get the full power of the Triforce, I can still have fun trying!"

The two crossed swords. From the first clash Link could tell he was hopelessly outmatched. He feared Ganondorf had even stolen Midna's power along with the Triforce. He fought using every skill he could master, but it had begun to rain and his small frame kept slipping in the mud. Ganondorf, on the other hand, stood firm and dealt him blow after blow. Soon crimson drops began to mingle with the rain.

"What's the matter, boy?" Ganondorf taunted as he raised his sword over his head again and again. "Where are your brave words now? Come finish me, if you can!"

Link rolled away from him and stood on one knee. A spasm of coughing overcame him and when he brought his hand away from his face he could see it spattered with blood. _I don't have much time_…_need to try something else_…

"Zelda!" he called as he dodged another sweeping slice. "Please…you're the only one who really knows how the Triforce works! You've got to tell me what to do to break the cycle!"

"Hah!" Ganondorf struck him across the head with the flat of his sword, now just playing with his prey. "If you really are the reincarnation of the ancient hero, and there was a way to end it, don't you think she would have told you by now?"

Dazed, Link dodged Ganondorf's blows, trying to put as much distance between the two of them as possible. "Zelda, _please!_ Don't you remember? I know, it's hard, it hurts, but please _try to remember me!_"

Atop Epona, Zelda trembled, not yet ready to open the doors to the dark places of her mind. She had been taught at a very young age that she had to respect the cycle the goddesses had created. She did not want to relive those painful memories of past lives. She could only advise, not take part in the struggle.

And yet, despite all her royal training, something within her strained to rebel…

"It can only be united if each individual willingly gives up his piece."

Link gritted his teeth. "Then that's just what he'll have to do."

Ganondorf's laughter drowned out even the thunderclaps. "Give it up, boy, give it up?!" He flicked his sword down, casually to his side, and stepped toward Link. "Willingly hand over ultimate power and immortality?"

Struggling to his feet, Link said softly but clearly, "If you don't give it up willingly, then I'll have to _make you_."

"Is this a joke?" Ganondorf's eyes shone with mirth and disbelief. "You're half-dead already. Just what, exactly, do you plan to do?"

In a few quick steps he walked up to the struggling hero and with a flash of his hand clutched his throat. "You'd better do something, then, before I snap your neck."

His eyes widened as Link flashed a grim smile, then grabbed Ganondorf's wrist with his own hand, both marked with the three-triangle seal.

"What…?" Ganondorf muttered, then emitted a piercing scream.

"_Do you remember me now?_" Link hissed as he concentrated every last bit of his energy on forcing the memories in the dark places of his mind and focused them, through his hand, onto Ganondorf's wrist. "Ganon, Ganonodorf, whatever incarnation, do you remember me cutting down each one?"

Howling, Ganondorf struggled to free himself from the haunting images of his own past defeats, but found himself rooted to the ground.

Suddenly, he checked himself, and focused again on reality. He saw his adversary's eyes widen as he forced back the torrent of nightmares, this time focusing on a different set.

"That's a nice trick!" he exclaimed as Link cried out in pain. "Apparently, though, you didn't win _every_ fight. And you get _much_ too attached to other people. I've never made that mistake. But when _you're_ confronted with the ghosts of your past…"

Zelda watched, frozen and numb, as Link struggled in vain. _"Are you just going to hope things suddenly change? What kind of fool are you?"_

"The past cannot be changed," she said to no one but herself, slowly walking toward the pair locked in mental combat. "Old actions cannot be undone…old mistakes cannot be corrected…old friends cannot be resurrected…" Tears rolled down her cheeks, mixing with the rain. "But…we are…masters of our own destiny…"

She reached forward and brought her own hand down on the wrists of the two fighters, throwing open the doors of her mind, crying havoc to let slip the dogs of war.

Link's mind was suddenly flooded with images of himself through another's eyes, mixed with a deep aching loneliness and a bizarre form of déjà vu that comes from seeing an old friend's face in his child's. He turned his head to see Zelda beside him, watching. _"I'm sorry,"_ he heard her voice in his mind. _"I did not want to recognize you…to know you…because each time I knew it would end again…"_

Both heard Ganondorf's muddy chuckle above them. "What a foolish thing unrequited love is. Did you really plan to defeat me by baring your weakness, Princess?"

When Zelda spoke, her voice was removed of its dreamy quality and was hard as stone. "You forget that I, too, have witnessed all of your defeats."

Ganondorf shrieked as the two seared their memories in his brain, hot as fire and sharp as swords. He struggled, fought back using both his mind and his might, but the onslaught engulfed and paralyzed him. "Make it stop!" he cried out. _"Make it stop!"_

The world evaporated in a brilliant flash of white. Ganondorf opened his eyes slowly, then stared around him.

"Eh?" He appeared to be in the atrium of Hyrule Castle. "Didn't I just blast this place out of existence?"

Taking a second look, he realized it couldn't be the same place. It had the same marble columns and golden chandeliers; but an array of tapestries were hung about the wall, and the three-goddess statue, complete with all three pieces of the Triforce, stood in the middle.

"Well!" he exclaimed with pleasant surprise, "I don't know what happened, but it couldn't be a better outcome!" He stepped toward the statue.

Link appeared before him, sword drawn.

"I'm growing tired of this, boy," Ganandorf growled. "I don't know what you two did, but it's time to end this little game." He crossed swords a few times, then made a false pass, and buried his sword into Link's chest.

"Now," he said with a wide grin, "Are you finally going to die properly?"

The words died in his throat as Link not only didn't fall, but stood straight and wrenched the sword from Ganondorf's hand, then pulled out of his own chest.

"How…?" Ganondorf gasped, completely floored.

"What's the matter?" Link tossed his own sword to Zelda beside him and steadied Ganondorf's in his hand. "Are you so delusional that you can't tell the difference between dreaming and reality?"

Using his grappling hook, Link launched himself and Zelda up upon either side of the statue.

"This world is not real," Zelda explained calmly as Ganondorf stood with his mouth open. "Or rather…it is whatever one wants it to be. We three gave up our claim to the pieces of the Triforce, and it finally has been united, along with our consciousnesses." She gestured to the tapestries hung all around them.

"I think," Link said slowly to Zelda as he hefted the large sword in his hand, "That the goddesses made a mistake in making this thing so easily acquirable. Hyrule would fare better, don't you think, if it were split into _thousands_ of pieces?"

"You idiot," Ganondorf spluttered. "What'll that do to _us_?"

"That has not been revealed to me," Zelda said simply. "We could be freed of its blessing and curse…or our souls could be eradicated for all eternity."

His bloodshot eyes widening, Ganondorf exclaimed, "Are you _insane_?!" He turned to Link, in the unaccustomed position of trying to talk someone away from certain doom. "Don't you _like_ being the perpetual hero, the adventurer? Thousands of people would want to _be_ you, whether they have the courage or not! You're just going to give it all up?!"

Link's bleak smile froze him to the floor. "You mean, sacrificing oneself for the common good? Isn't that what the hero does?"

"You fool… you idiot…there _has_ to be another way…"

"We've already tried," Link said simply. "This is the only way to break the cycle."

"This is the natural order!" Ganondorf howled. "Good versus evil! Light versus dark! How do you know that you won't blast the whole world out of existence?"

Link's resolve shone in his eyes. "I am no longer a puppet for the entertainment of the goddesses. I am a sentient being." He hefted the sword. "With this, I shall cut the strings and stand on my own feet." He turned to Zelda. "Are you ready?"

She nodded. "You know there's no going back."

He chuckled in grim humor. "Technically, we weren't supposed to come back the other thousand times this happened."

Ganondorf looked wildly around. His gaze fell upon a suit of armor in a far corner and he ran toward it, ripping its spear from its hands and running back to the statue.

"Ready?" Zelda asked.

"Ready."

"_NOW!"_

They both leaped into the air and stabbed downward. The room exploded in a brilliant light a thousand times brighter than that of the sun.

Silence.

Darkness.

Suffocation…

Ganondorf awoke with a snort, blowing mud out of his nose and coughing up dirt. As he struggled to breathe he hefted himself up on his hands and knees, his palms sinking into the rain-soaked ground beneath him.

After a brief coughing fit, he glanced around him to see that he was back in Hyrule Field, the prone forms of his two adversaries nearby, the rain reduced to a drizzle and the ragged clouds hanging overhead. He stood unsteadily on his feet, and examined the back of his hand.

The three-triangle seal was gone.

He stared in disbelief for several moments, then was jerked out of his trance by muffled sounds coming from his side. He turned to see Link struggling to his knees in the mud.

With a roar of rage, Ganondorf trampled through the mud and seized his opponent by the neck, hefting him up at eye level. "Everything! You took _everything _from me!" he howled at his weakly flailing opponent. "Now I'm going to take what little you have left!"

But even as he tightened his grip, he emitted a small yelp of pain and surprise, and Link fell back in the mud, coughing and sputtering. Half-blinded by the mud, Link floundered in the mud for a weapon, any weapon, his sword lost in the Triforce's shattering.

"You talk too much." The voice was impossibly familiar. Link rose and wiped the mud from his eyes. He stood frozen, seeing Ganondorf floating in the air, struggling to free some invisible force from around his own neck. Standing in front of him was a young woman in of a race Link had never seen before, dressed in brilliant blue-black robes, her bright red hair arranged like a pendant over her shoulders and on her chest.

"Now listen carefully," the woman said, as Link stared and Zelda pulled herself from the ground. "It's time for me to tell a story. One I know none of you have heard before. Well…I think my fellow Princess has."

"This land of Hyrule is only a small speck of the world the gods made, and the goddesses of the Triforce are themselves only minor deities, made from another. When the first woman, Izanami, gave birth to the Fire God and subsequently died, the first man, Izanagi, was so angry he attempted to kill the Fire God. But he only succeeded in creating a thousand more smaller gods, three of which were your goddesses.

"So distraught was Izanagi by his wife's death that he journeyed to the underworld, Yomi, the land of shadows and spirits. It is a restful place of twilight, filled with melancholy but also reflection.

He found her and begged her to return. She replied that she had already eaten the food of the underworld and therefore could never return to the world of the living. He begged her to reconsider. She replied that she must think of a way to do so.

"He waited for months in that twilight world, then finally gave up and lit his comb to go looking for her in the darkness. He found her, but was instantly repulsed, for in the light she was nothing more than a maggot-eaten corpse.

"Screaming, he ran back to the world of the living. Izanami pursued him, furious that her mere appearance would drive him away. He burst back into the world of light and sealed the entrance to Yomi with a giant boulder. Izanami shouted that if he left her, she would bring about the deaths of a thousand people every day. Izanagi shouted back that if she killed a thousand, he would create even more."

The woman paused, as Ganondorf kicked the air. As she spoke again, her voice lost a little of its power and melancholy began to seep in.

"As the world and the number of people in it grew larger, Izanami, Queen of Yomi, began selecting regents to oversee certain areas. Each regent escorted the newly dead into Yomi and looked after them. In time our world mirrored that of the light, and the two became essential counterweights. The leaders of the light look after the living; the leaders of the twilight look after the dead, and the two never mix.

"Families and lineages we have too in Yomi, and I was the descendant of the three Hylians who were sent to Yomi after they tried to steal the lesser deities' precious bauble. Izanami herself appointed me as the Twilight Princess of Hyrule."

Suddenly Midna – for it had to be Midna – pulled her lips back in a snarl. "And then you came, with your stolen power, causing chaos in my kingdom through Zant. I was caught off guard and he managed to steal my kingdom from me.

"Izanami was furious with me. 'What good are you,' she said, 'if you let such a fool disrupt the balance between the two worlds? You must go to the land of the living and set things right. Find the two that have within them my childrens' power and fix what has been broken.'"

Midna turned to the pair standing in the mud and smiled. "I must apologize…my view of the people of the light was so dim I never thought you would be able to assist me, let alone restore the works of the minor gods."

Turning back to Ganondorf, she said, "Now my powers have been restored with the help of these two, and I must return to my duties."

"No," Ganondorf spluttered, flailing wildly. "Don't kill me! I'll do anything… anything you want."

Impassive, Midna said, "You have no choice. You must follow the same path as all of those who enter the twilight."

She made a tiny flip of her hand, a small, insignificant gesture, and suddenly Ganondorf's great body went limp. She set it down gently back into the mud and turned to Link.

"Say something," she told him, smiling. "Am I so beautiful that you've lost your ability to speak?"

-&-

"So this is the great boulder Izanami used to seal the entrance to Yomi?" Link asked in disbelief, as they stood next to the Twilight Mirror facing the black stone.

"It is merely a sliver," Zelda said. "How the sages got hold of such a thing, I never knew."

"But it still has magic properties," Midna explained. "That is why when the Twilight Mirror's light is reflected upon it, it opens the door to Yomi."

She turned to Link. "Now do you understand why this thing must be destroyed? The lesser deities love to cause trouble…they create things just for their own amusement. The mirror was created to facilitate that. You and Ganondorf were able to travel between the two worlds while you had the goddesses' power within you. The rift between the two worlds has caused so many problems for both your people and mine."

Link shifted uneasily. "I suppose there's no point in trying to pay a visit."

Midna smiled sadly. "Well, you could, but then I would have to offer you something to eat, and then you would be stuck there before your time. We will meet again…eventually…all too soon." She activated the mirror, and stepped up onto the stairway. "As it is…I wish…I could remember you as you are now…"

She brushed a single tear from her face, and with it destroyed the mirror.

Link and Zelda stood silently for several minutes, as if in mourning. Finally, Link turned to Zelda as something occurred to him. "I don't remember much of my past lives now…"

She nodded. "You are no longer connected to the Triforce, but the memories of the memories have been etched into your mind."

"Right…but I don't ever remember being in Yomi, even though I must have died a thousand times. In fact, when I was there, I distinctly felt awake because I knew with certainty that I _hadn't_ been there before."

"You never did go to Yomi." She turned to him. "None of us three did…until Midna sent Ganondorf's spirit to the twilight world. When our past lived ended, we were simply reincarnated as someone else. The goddesses' power could not be destroyed with your death…since it and our souls were entwined within that power, they continued to endure."

"So…once our lives end here…we really will die."

She nodded. "Are you afraid?"

He shook his head. "No…not after the madness I endured through all those past lives. And I'll get to see Midna again…"

He looked up at the starry sky. "Well…what to do now? I guess now that my life does have an end, I have to make the most of it…but how do you follow up something like _this_?"

Zelda smiled. "You mean, saving all of Hyrule and resetting the balance of the universe?"

"Yeah…kind of hard to top that, isn't it?"

"There is much to the world outside of Hyrule. Midna would be disappointed in you if you didn't explore all of it."

He smiled in spite of himself. "I supposed you're right…" Turning to her, he asked. "What are you going to do? Just go back to the castle and…um…do princess stuff?"

"My duty is to the people of Hyrule, yes," she said calmly. He looked up, startled, as she took his hand. "But you are always welcome in the royal court, chosen hero."

"We've known each other for a thousand years," he said, grinning. "Don't you think we can finally be on a first-name basis?"

She laughed, for the first time in many years. "Yes, I suppose so…but it still seems strange."

"You know, I don't think we were ever properly introduced." He freed his hand and then offered it again. "Hi. I'm Link. Pleased to meet you."

She took it. "I am Princess Zelda of Hyrule…but you may call me Zelda."

He laughed, shaking her hand hard. "Now that's more like it!"


End file.
